Social Network Analysis as a Lens on Social Inclusion: An Example From High School Biology

• In Event: Applied Research on Science Education in Schools

Abstract

As diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) emerges as a potent conceptual frame for social justice efforts in many types of organizations, including K-12 schools, developing meaningful measures of these elements to assess intervention strategies is urgent, particularly in fields like STEM with a history of exclusion. This paper reviews prior conceptualization and operationalization of “inclusion” and proposes social network analysis as a fruitful measurement approach. Drawing on video data of a challenged small group engaging in high school biology inquiry and engineering design tasks, social network analysis is shown to highlight subtleties in the changes in inclusion over time.

Authors

• Elizabeth McEneaney, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Stephanie Purington, Marist College